Figure Complaints: My Figure Broke...

(I posted this at the Palisades Boards, copying it here word-for-word.)

I hope this helps more than anything!

Dedicate this thread only to complaints regarding your Muppet figures, whether they break or have paint problems, or if you can’t get them to stand up, etc.

I’m not a moderator, but I think it makes better sense to have a centralized thread so it might be easier for Palisades to field answers to these questions rather than each person posting a new thread every time. (Of course, if seperate threads is more helpful, Palisades should delete this thread.) It's just that there's so many single threads asking the same question when the answers are simple--and generally the same.

The first answer given most about these situations is to contact Tony. There are 2 available ways of doing this:

Next, everyone always acts like the toy company should be replacing the items in question, but before forums came around what did you do? You took the item back to the store where you bought it and exchanged it, or got a refund until you found one that you could use. That’s very simple. Just keep your receipts when you buy things and you’ll always be able to exchange or get refunds!!

My own advice in some cases is this:
1) If there’s a possibility of a figure breaking, don’t do whatever it is you’re planning to do. Like, for the Newsman, don’t drop a rock on him—choose some Styrofoam blocks or something; don’t pose a figure 5 feet on a shelf if it might fall off to the ground and break. (My own experience is that, thank Goodness, none of mine have fallen to doom.)
2) If the character falls over, sometimes it’s as simple as reposing the character until it stands on its own. The only character I use a stand with is Series 1 Piggys. Even Janice stands on her own holding her guitar, and my apartment floor is ‘bouncy.’ (My VacaPepe sits on a shelf/coatrack on the wall behind my apt. door. He fell off 4 times before I could get him posed just right to always stand up! No damages to him at all.)
3) Paint problems: I look an action figure over really well before purchase. I start with how the eyes are painted in place, how the paints look over all the head, then the body, then I look at the accessories (but my figure MUST look very good, or I wait til I find one that does.)
4) You can also tell about the construction of a figure while still in package—shake it a little. Simply put: look at the figure before you buy it and take it home. It’ll save you some trouble later; or just WAIT ‘til you find a good one later!
(RE: points 3 & 4: Suncoast folks have always been kind enough to, upon request, let me go through even their back-stock of Muppets Figures to get my picks of the litter).

There's just several different things you can do to get a figure you expect that you can keep forever; then, there's some things that just happen: In my own collection, Animal's right leg falls out of socket, and MegaAnimal's foot falls out of his pants; Steppin' Out Bunsen/Beaker have rings around their necks now, and regular Beaker has a ring around his neck now--but, I accept these as things that just happen to figures.

I hope this thread will end up being helpful and lay to rest the millions of separate threads about broken or miss-painted figures.

I think the series I had the most trouble with is Series 5. Pepe won't hold his binoculars or his blow dryer, the Newsman's neck is very loose and moves very freely. And then the worst happened. When I was (carefully!) moving Janice's left arm, it broke off! And I wasn't moving it in a way it wasn't supposed to move. Other than that, I haven't really had any problems except that my Series 2 Gonzo has a sloppy paint job.

My Bunsen's figures glasses have broken twice now.But my Mom can easily glue them on. I have learned NOT TO EXERT ANY PRESSURE CAUSED BY ME ON THOSE BLOODY GLASSES. Oh yeah, Vacation Fozzie's leg once broke off, but it was easy to put back in.

1. Both of my Vacation Fozzie's arms broke off when I tried them for the first time.
2. My Repiant Janice's right arm fell out completly.
3. My Robot Rabbit's ears are missing and the left foot comes off.
4. Strangepork's right joint broke.
5. Bunsen's glasses are broke (you saw this coming, didn't you?).

When I turn one of the arms on the Robot Rabbit he comes apart! LOL!! I always thought it was supPOSED to do that until someone said it wasn't; however, I found it a funny "articulation" to the toy since it was built at Muppet Labs!

Oh, they are -- you cannot beat the detail and articulation. You just have to be picky when you select them because the paint jobs aren't exactly perfection on every figure, broken limbs typically occur because joints are VERY sticky once a figure is opened. You just have to be very careful when unsticking them... there's a thread around here about how to safely do that.